Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Bird watching

BALTIMORE – It’s certainly interesting that the Phillies have a scout on hand here at Camden Yards on the day that A.J. Burnett takes the mound for the Jays. Coincidence? Maybe and, then again, maybe not.

Philadelphia already has acquired Joe Blanton for its rotation, so aiming for another starter might not be the goal at the moment. The Phils are in the market for some left-handed help in their bullpen and All-Star closer George Sherrill of the O’s undoubtedly fits that mold. For the Jays, Jesse Carlson and Brian Tallet are also there.

In the meantime, the Phils also get another look at Burnett, though prior to his last start, Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi said he “didn’t see A.J. going anywhere.” I guess we’ll know if that’ll indeed be the case come July 31.

The Toronto Blue Jays completed the signing of SS GUSTAVO PIERRE as an International Free Agent. PIERRE, a 16-year-old from La Romana Dominican Republic is a right-handed hitting shortstop, standing at 6’1 and weighing 180 pounds. He will attend the Blue Jays academy in Domincan Republic.

From scouting reports, this kid is rated to be the 12th top prospect in The Dominican Republic. Here’s the information on him:

12. Gustavo Pierre, 3B, Dominican Republic
Pierre is another of the Dominican shortstops, but basically no one thinks he can stick there; third base and left field are the two most common positional projections. His bat shows flashes, but how good his bat has looked varies from one game, BP session, or workout to another. He has sound swing mechanics, but showing an inability to consistently perform in game situations has some teams worried about his long-term prospects.

At 6′2 and 175 pounds, Pierre has some projection left in his frame, quick feet, and some power potential. He has been connected to the Blue Jays for some time, and figures to get a bonus in the $600,000 to $700,000 range.

One of the big signings was Oakland who got the number one ranked prospect:
Dominican prospect Michael Inoa has agreed to a minor league contract and a $4.25 million signing bonus with the Oakland Athletics, said the 16-year-old from Santo Domingo. Inoa is 6′7 and an athletic 205 pound right-handed pitcher whose fastball has been as high as 96, but sits in the 91-93 range presently. These qualities have some projecting him to hit 100 in a few years. Inoa has advanced feel a curveball that already flashes above-average and most project for plus, along with a splitter than one insider called “dirty.” He’s been called a , “once in a decade talent,” by more than a few.

By now, you can see what kind of talent Inoa has; plenty to justify multiple visits to the Dominican from big hitters like Brian Cashman and reportedly four visits from Billy Beane.

**This kid looks like he could be really special. Of course, Billy Bean and Cashman made multiple trips there, with Bean convincing the kid to sign with Oakland.

It appears to me, after reading some of the information from this scouting report and others that there’s a lot of good looking young players coming from this area. Our committment is two teams there, like a number of other organizations, but we certainly aren’t putting the ocmmittment in that Oakland, the Yankks and others are.

I get the feeling this area is like the old days of baseball, without drafts,were the scouts earned their pay, and the teams that got the good prospects met with the parents and convinced them, they’d take care of the kids.
Billy Bean as one of the best GM’s in baseball and Brian Cashman understand that and get all the real A+ prospects.
This kid Oakland signed was offered more by other teams, but decided to sign with Oakland. Clearly, Billy Bean did a better job than Cashman, at least on this kid.
In The Blue Jays golden years, we had great scouting in this area and developed some phenomenal talent as a result. Although, it looks like we’ve dipped out toe back into this area, it’s no where’s near enough to get the top kids.
I think all Toronto fans understand we can not compete with the Yanks and Boston in the free agent market, and that’s ok. But, this is one area, we need to invest in. I tip my hat to Billy Bean on this signing, and remember this kid’s name as he flies thorugh the minors and probably starts with Oakland in 3-4 years time, and becomes the new pitching phenom.

The difference is, Billy Bean has a real plan of building a minor league system and developing players. We are all over the map, sometimes it’s free agents, sometimes its development and sometimes its just sign the guys no one else wants.

When we signed JP as GM, I though we had the right guy, trained by Billy Bean, one of the best, if not the best. But it certainly isn’t showing, cause there doesn’t seem to be any plan at all..

gsumner, I second that. George Bell, Tony Fernandez, Carlos Delgado, arguably the 3 three greatest players to wear a Jays uniform. Gather the new young crop and who knows? 2 or 3 years they might be in our system, after playing down there. We might even pull a kid with enough talent to be like Justin Upton (was playing on the D-backs when he was 18.)

Saw Batman “Dark Knight” on Thursday, and boy, was I ever wrong. I feel pretty confident saying that that was the greatest Batman ever. I shouldn’t have doubted Ledger because his performance was outstanding (‘he knocked one out of the park’). His dark humour and psychotic portrayal of ‘Joker’ literally gave me chills. “Why so serious?”

Well, cross your fingers, it looks like Rickie Romero might be finally turning it around. Since we invested $2.4 in his signing bonus as a first rounder, it would be nice to see some return. lol
In his last 3 starts, which included tonight’s Rickie went a total of 23 innings and most importantly, only walked 6, while stricking out 8. In these three games he gave up 4 runs, and 2 of them were the result of blown halt saves. He has lowered his year era to 5.05 as a result.
This improvement started over the last month in which 6 of his last 7 starts have been quality starts. The big difference is he’s gone from walking a runner every two innings to 2 per game. Let’s hope this improvement continues.

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